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A jury took less than five hours yesterday to convict a Mississauga man of first-degree murder in the death of his mentally challenged former girlfriend.

By Louie RosellaTorstar News Service

Thu., Feb. 9, 2012

A jury took less than five hours yesterday to convict a Mississauga man of first-degree murder in the death of his mentally challenged former girlfriend.

The five women and seven men returned their verdict around 8 p.m., finding Jason Osborne, 25, guilty in the asphyxiation death of 31-year-old Karina Neff.

They had begun deliberating around 3:30 p.m.

Defence lawyer Ilan Neuman said he was “extremely disappointed” with the result. “I am certainly surprised at the speed at which the verdict came back,” he said.

Osborne will receive an automatic life sentence under the Criminal Code with no parole for a minimum 25 years.

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“We're relieved that after 3 1/2 years we finally have closure. My mother certainly thinks justice has been served,” said the victim’s sister, Nicole Neff.

“It’s hard to believe that someone could take the life of someone with a heart of gold.”

In rendering their verdict, jurors believed the evidence presented by Crown prosecutors Alex Cornelius and Trisha Holmes that Osborne intended to kill Neff.

The Crown’s evidence included a chilling police interview played before jurors, in which Osborne admitted that he attacked and choked his former girlfriend in a park near her Erin Mills home and left her there to die.

He told Peel Regional Police Det. Bernie Webber that he attacked Neff while the two were walking in the park with Neff's dog, Max. He became angry when she started talking about wanting to get married and have children and then began “screaming” at him.

“I pushed her to the ground,” he said while being questioned on the day he was arrested in the summer of 2008. “I just used my foot ... I held her chest and hands and choked her a bit ... I held my foot so hard around her chin ... I just lost myself. That's what happened.”

Osborne, a former West Credit Secondary School student, also told Webber he left a bloodied Neff in some grass “or green leaves” and tossed her shoes and dog leash in a nearby trash can.

“She was still breathing but not that good,” when he left the park, Osborne told the homicide detective. “I had a bad feeling she wouldn’t pull through that.”

At one point in the interrogation, Osborne used his hands to show the officer how he choked Neff.

Earlier in the walk, Osborne said he pushed Neff to the ground when she tried to hug him.

In a number of other admissions played in court, Osborne said he knew what he did to Neff was the “wrong thing” because “frustration can turn into hatred.”

“I snapped and I lost it. The frustration took right over. I lost my patience with her,” he said in the video.

“I’m sorry for what I did. I’m not proud of it.”

Investigators asked Osborne, then 22, about the blood on his shoes and jeans. After being told by Webber that the shoes were being forensically examined, Osborne admitted the blood belonged to Neff.

Osborne, who had pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, maintained he didn’t plan the attack. He had told friends he was becoming “aggravated” with Neff, but said he never threatened her.

Osborne said the two had broken up five months before the developmentally-delayed woman's body was found on July 22, 2008. They had been together for eight months.

He told Webber she wanted to get back together with him, but Osborne said he grew frustrated with her and agreed with Webber’s assertion that she was “demanding.”

Jurors rejected the evidence presented by defence lawyers Neuman and Misha Feldmann that their client suffered from mental retardation and didn’t have the capacity to form an intent to kill his former girlfriend.

They suggested evidence presented during the three-week trial supported a manslaughter conviction.

Neff was found face down amid branches and logs in a forested area of Windy Hollow Park, east of Erin Mills Pkwy., just off The Collegeway.

Several photos submitted as exhibits show Neff's bloodied and bruised face.

The jury also heard that Osborne initially offered to help find the woman when she was reported missing the day before her body was found.

Neff, also of Erin Mills, died of asphyxiation from pressure to the face and neck, court heard.

Anne Neff testified that her daughter and the accused had “an on-again, off-again” romantic relationship. About three weeks before the murder, Neff’s parents forbade Osborne from visiting their home.

Karina’s father, Paul Neff, told jurors he knew something was wrong when, on the night before the grisly discovery, his daughter left the home with her dog Max to meet another male friend and hadn’t returned after an hour.

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